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Following up on the massive worldwide success of their debut album 55, Bacao Rhythm & Steel band is back with another heavy duty offering. Picking
up where they left off and incorporating a ton of new recording techniques they take a huge step forward with The Serpent�s Mouth. Named after the
eight-mile strait between the island of Trinidad and the coast of Venezuela, The Serpent�s Mouth is a journey through both originals and covers,
combining classic elements that wide-eared music fans already know, and mashing them up in new and unique ways.
Take �1 Thing� � on it, the group attacks the galloping, chopped Amerie smash hit, with singing pans that follow the R & B vocal. The sound is crisp
and up-front, arguably more muscular than the 2005 original. On �Great To Be Here,� they take on the Jackson 5 B-Boy favorite (which stretches back
to the Zulu Nation / Bronx block party days) � uncoincidentally, the original version featured a guitar lick that emulated a steel pan run. Here, it gets
an even more pulsating groove, adding open-drums breaks throughout, to get DJs salivating. The group veers through more inventively-constructed
covers as the album�s sequence continues, including Gang Starr�s �All For The Cash�, Mary J. Blige�s �I Love You�, and the recently unleashed first
single, �XXplosive� and �Burn,� paying tribute to both Dr. Dre and Mobb Deep for a bi-coastal funk party. And, as band leader Bjorn Wagner states,
�My favorite cover on the album is probably �Crockett Theme,� which is the theme to �Miami Vice.� I always loved the melody, and the cosmic vibe of
the song, and I was honestly surprised that it worked without synthesizers.�
This time around the group�s originals are even stronger, as evidenced by cuts like the flute-fueled break-fest of �Hoola Hoop�, the slow and spacey
�Touchdown�, and the album�s title track, the future-epic-adventure-movie-soundtrack cut �The Serpent�s Mouth.� Wagner explains, �I wrote the song
with Bernhard Hummer as an instrumental fantasy story � think of pirates, smugglers and a dangerously beautiful sea passage towards the island. It
became an allegory for our mind travels into the world of the steel pan.�
The Serpent�s Mouth is sure to please past fans and newly-minted ones alike. It seems like a new era for Steel Drum music is upon us, and Bacao is
firmly leading the way into the hearts of music fans around the world. |
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